STW demo:Support Gate Gourmet workers & BA baggage handl

Sorry for the late notice but ...

Gate Gourmet workers will be attending the London Stop the War march for peace and justice tomorrow.

A special leaflet has been produced publicising the dispute and calling for solidarity (the text is reproduced below).

If you are attending the demonstration can you, download a copy of the leaflet from the website http://www.sackedbygategourmet.org.uk/resources.htm (under the heading 'leaflets to download; support the BA Baggage Handlers'), print off some copies and distribute them on the march? This will be particularly helpful if you are travelling on a chartered coach or train as you will have a 'captive audience'.

Supporters will be taking 2,000 copies of the leaflet with them tomorrow, but as the march will be many times this size, if supporters can run off additional copies this will be helpful.

The Gate Gourmet workers have been invited by the march organisers to stage a bucket collection during the march. This will take place in the bottom corner of Trafalgar square (behind Nelson's column).

It would be very helpful if supporters could congregate from 12 noon at this spot, and distribute leaflets while the workers collect money.

This is a major opportunity to draw attention to the issues in this dispute to the wider movement, so you assistance tomorrow will be appreciated.

Further activities.

We have called a London Mobilisation for Sunday 2 October (see leaflet) in a determined attempt to demonstrate to the workers that they are not forgotten or alone. Please publicise this widely (use your email networks, raise in you local trade union branches, and with community and political organisations)

Finally, we are calling for a national day of action to publisice the dispute on October 15 where we will be encouraging distribution of leaflets outside of Burger King high street outlets (Burger King are owned by Texas Pacific the parent company of Gate Gourmet). We will also be encouraging Burger King employees to consider joining a union. If Texas Pacific think they can break the union at Gate Gourmet, we wish to retaliate by organising amongst the currently unorganised sections of their workforce.

We must demonstrate to Texas Pacific and all other employers considering union busting operations, that under attack we collectively fight back.

Once again please visit the website and send messages of solidarity every voice raised on behalf of this workforce counts.

Text of leaflet follows:

Support the Gate Gourmet workers!

Sacked by megaphone for attending a union meeting

On 10 August, 670 Gate Gourmet workers were sacked when they attended a union meeting. The meeting had been called after Gate Gourmet introduced 130 casual staff into the workplace, at a time when they were threatening widespread redundancies amongst existing workers. According to newspaper reports, the company had planned for over a year to provoke a dispute with a view to dismissing the whole of an already low paid workforce and replacing them with even lower paid casual workers. Gate Gourmet was originally the in-house catering organisation of British Airways, but is now owned by American conglomerate Texas Pacific.

Support the BA Baggage Handlers!

Victimised for taking 'secondary action'

In a magnificent show of solidarity, BA baggage handlers walked out in support of their fellow trade unionists. Their show of solidarity catapulted the dispute onto the world stage, and there has been sympathy action in the USA, Canada and Australia. However, the action is considered 'unlawful' under Britain's anti-trade union laws (a direct legacy of Thatcher's systematic attack on workers rights in the 1980s). BA has now sought to take disciplinary action against 'ringleaders' of the walkout; the senior shop stewards and negotiators for BA's baggage handlers.

1pm, Sunday 2 October

Beacon Hill

Bring union banners and donations for the hardship fund

For more details of how you can help, to send solidarity messages, to make payments to the hardship fund and to access campaign materials visit www.sackedbygategourmet.org.uk

Getting to Beacon Hill; take the Piccadilly line to Hatton Cross underground station, take the free bus to Terminal 4, then walk back ~ or take H23 red bus ~.to Beacon Hill.

By road, pick up the A30 from either the A4 Great West Road, or A312 south from junction 3 of the M4 and go south west. Go past the Hatton Cross tube station and after about 1 mile take the

slip road left for Terminal 4, T4. Cross over the A30 and at the roundabout, take the first left along the perimeter road. After about half a mile, mass demonstrators are visible on the grass.

An injury to one is an injury to all